Tough meaning waterproof, dustproof, shockproof, and freezeproof. For caving, but also for general family and nature use above ground. Budget is $300 max, but under that would be great. I have a nice collection of Eneloops, so AA power would be nice, but isn't a deal breaker. Being able to shoot videos is a good thing, though I don't need HD for quick Facebook videos.

First up, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3$25012MP35mm equivalent zoom: 28-128mm2.7" screenWaterproof to 40', shockproof to 6.6', freezeproof and dustproofCustom battery and chargerHi-Speed CCD sensor (not sure if this would help with cave shots?)"The built-in LED light greatly supports shooting in dark situations."

I have the Sony and am quite pleased with it. It has a CMOS chip, which is supposed to better with low light. It has a touch screen, which eliminates even more moving parts. My only complaint is that the videos don't automatically download into iPhoto. I have to bring them into iMovie.

It's pretty good. It's not perfect, but it works fine. I sacrificed a little bit on the user interface to not have to worry about buttons getting clogged with mud. It comes with a handy little stylus that attaches to the lanyard. I put a piece of packing tape over the screen which helps protect it.

The Olympus might be rugged, but it takes terrible photos, as has been discussed at length elsewhere.

I have the Lumix TS3 and like it very much. From the reviews I've read I believe it's the best of the small waterproof cameras available now. I'd like more manual exposure control, and RAW capture, but then this is a shortcoming of virtually all of the small P&S cameras.

Terrible photos? I disagree. ITs a point and shoot. IT doesnt have a telescopic lense, so any point and shoot like that is limited on what it can do, but if river caves are your thing, you are VERY limited on what you can use. I think it does a damn good job.

fyi, im sure there are better quality pics from similar cameras out there than the stylus, its simply indestructable which is what im looking for. IF i want better cave photos I would spend $$$ on a dslr but i have no desire to have that kind of camera ;)

Interesting reviews, and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 seems to score rather well. A friend showed me his one yesterday and it looked pretty impressive (but he hasn't taken it caving). Interesting too that the Fuji scored the lowest. About 5 years ago, I returned a new Fuji point and shoot because of poor image quality and inconsistent results. It seems they have not improved.

Chads93GT wrote:Terrible photos? I disagree. ITs a point and shoot. IT doesnt have a telescopic lense, so any point and shoot like that is limited on what it can do, but if river caves are your thing, you are VERY limited on what you can use. I think it does a damn good job.

I wasn't comparing it to a DSLR. It takes poor photos by any standard. Most photos are out of focus, exposure is off, color rendering isn't true, images are grainy, ... It is rugged, but not indestructible. At first I thought the focus and exposure problems were probably a result of not dealing with the darkness in caves, but it often has the same problems above ground.